.jpeg "PALAZZO BRASCHI: A SYMBOL OF ROME, A MUSEUM VENUE AND A LOTTERY")
Palazzo Braschi is not home to the Museum of Rome and an example of eighteenth-century architecture, since there was an attempt to sell it through a dedicated lottery.
Palazzo Braschi, here in Rome, is home to the Museum of Rome, with a permanent collection that is both respectable and eclectic. There are paintings, sculptures, furnishings, and much more. The works were created mainly between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, right when the building, designed by architect Cosimo Morelli, took on its current form. Palazzo Braschi owes its name to its commissioner, Angelo Braschi, who went down in history as Pius VI. The last pope of the eighteenth century and, also, the last real pontiff who used his temporal power to increase the income and wealth of his own family. For example, by giving this wonderful building to his nephew. One of the very last, if not the last, major examples of nepotism in the history of Rome. But that's not the only thing that makes it clear how interesting the building is. Of course, the interiors are beautifully decorated with stuccoes and frescoes, especially grotesques. But today your local tour guide in Rome wants to tell you the story of how, in order to sell the palace, they even tried to organize a real lottery! Let's see how.
It is 1866 and Palazzo Braschi was owned by Duke Romualdo, the last descendant of the family. Unfortunately for him, at that time, things were not going very well. As often happens, due to various setbacks in life (not least the fact that in Rome the pope was beginning to lose the temporal power he held), the Braschi family was in serious financial difficulty. So much so that even the jewel of the family estate, namely the palace, had several mortgages. So, how to scrape together the money needed to pay them off? Here comes Romualdo's stroke of genius. Organize a wonderful public lottery! It was a serious thing, because for the price of 94 baiocchi each, anyone could buy a ticket, hoping to win one of the prizes up for grabs. And these were not small prizes, because to pay off all the debts, it was decided to put up for auction real works of art, such as a Madonna with Child by Correggio, part of the private collection. The first prize was Palazzo Braschi itself. Romualdo was over the moon because he thought he would make a lot from the ticket sales, so he could settle some of the debts weighing on the family. Unfortunately for him, things did not go very well. The lottery lasted more than a year, but very few tickets were sold. They even tried to extend the lottery by a year, without much success. Unfortunately for him, Romualdo had to settle for selling the building at a bargain price.
Strangely, the lottery, which had been very popular in Rome for a long time, did not achieve great success. Who knows, maybe the Romans didn't fully believe in luck, or perhaps by then the winds of change were blowing, with the news reaching even the Eternal City, of a push towards unification that also affected Rome in 1870 with the loss of power held by the pontiff (at the time Pius IX). Duke Romualdo could do nothing but take refuge with some of his relatives, knowing that his beloved palace became a focal point of the newborn Rome Capital of Italy (it was also the seat of the Presidency of the Council, for example). I leave you with a witty pasquinade, since Pasquino (about whom you can read here), was always up to date on everything, which shows us how, before the great political change, in Rome it was always the families linked to the pontiffs who could call the shots: “There are so many and lush are the pastures of Holy Church, and even the Braschi house can be fattened there”.
